The Damned - (1969) - Film
Seen: Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Back in late June and early July the Gene Siskel Film Center held a comprehensive retrospective of the films of Luchino Visconti. Not being any sort of an authority on the director, and one who really only has passing familiarity with him (i.e. La Terra Trema (1948) and The Leopard (1963)), I figured it was about time I see some more. This wasn't a hasty catch-up session, however, for most of the movies were presented on fantastic 35mm prints, some of which have never circulated in the States. The first I saw was Visconti's The Damned, and I very much like the description given to it here:"The Damned is to the WWII genre what a chiffon-clad drag queen brandishing satin scarves is to an audience of racecar drivers."
Sandra - (1965) - Film
Seen: Wednesday, July 2, 2008
The next day I caught Sandra, probably my favorite of all Visconti I've seen so far. Who can resist Claudia Cardinale projected in black and white so torn and tousled? Not many reviews are out there on this one. But who ever thought TV Guide could provide a better context and outline of the film than the jargon-happy film buff? Anyway, it'd be silly for me to try to describe it better myself, it's just not fresh in my head anymore. So we'll rely on TV Guide for now...
Close-Up - (1990) - DVD
Seen: Saturday, July 5, 2008
"It was very hard to pretend to be someone else, but I liked it."
The first signifier of artificiality, or at least an acknowledgment that what you're about to see has been consciously edited and framed, is the movie's credit sequence. For Kiarostami's Close-Up, the credit sequence doesn't begin until more than 15-minutes into the film, giving us an added layer of ambiguity--is this documentary or fiction? Both, is the short answer. Our primary subject before Kiarostami's camera is a man accused of impersonating a film director, and he's on trial before his peers and family humbly owning up to the fact that he led strangers to believe he was someone he was not.
The story is structured so that we toggle between the present (the time leading up to his trial and the trial itself) and the past (talking to strangers, gaining their trust from false premises), and while initially we don't know who Kiarostami (who is speaking off camera) and the journalist with him are talking about, it very quickly becomes clear. The man on trial is the "star" of the film and the one we root for--despite his impersonation, despite the fact that we don't truly know who he is. His persona unravels, but still the man is so blatantly honest about why he impersonated the filmmaker: to be in a position of authority.
Also, on visuals, American Beauty gets credit for making a billowing plastic shopping bag look pretty, but it's got nothing on the magnificence of Kiarostami's tin can tinkering down the street, or the streaks of an airplane's vapor trail across the sky.
The Incredible Hulk - (2008) - Film
Seen: Saturday, July 5, 2008
Hancock - (2008) - Film
Seen: Sunday, July 6, 2008
Iron Man - (2008) - Film
Seen: Sunday, July 6, 2008
Three! Big! Summer! Movies!
In order of preference:
1. Iron Man
2. Hancock
3. The Incredible Hulk--wait. No, to put Hulk on a list of "preferences" implies I preferred this movie at all. More than the poorly blocked scenes with empty, un-visualized space that amassed to gaping holes, a visual analogous to the silent, dead air of radio; more than the contrivance known as the conflict between Sgt. Ross and his daughter; more than the anticlimactic battle scene to prove the filmmakers are proficient in animation software--more than all of these things, what an unfair undermining of Liv Tyler as Betty, Sgt. Ross's daughter.
She has no valuable dialogue, is a void of personality and intellect, and finally becomes just another damsel in distress. Only worse, she is framed with nearly pornographic shots of her mouth glazed in soft pink lip gloss. Gah! Not helping the cause. And you can't blame Liv, who isn't a bad actress. After all, she's only as good as the lines that were never written for her.
Little Children - (2006) - DVD
Seen: Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Little Children! Another flick that fell through the cracks! But finally, yes, I've seen it! A lot of great things are going for this picture: a stellar performance from Kate Winslet (in sex scenes to boot), the superb framing of shots that add an extra layer to the mise-en-scene, which was a creation of conscious sterility; and another look at the dull banality of suburban life. Ah, maybe that's a cliche by now (again, American Beauty comes to mind), but I found this portrayal a bit more comforting, and I suppose less condescending to that culture. A film professor friend of mine expressed her anger at the film's conservative conclusion, where Winslet and her extra-marital lover finally return home to the lives they until that moment were clearly unhappy with. I let it slide, but I'm flexible. Anyone have thoughts on that? Zodiac - (2007) - DVD
Seen: Wednesday, July 9, 2008
For me, this is the scariest damn movie I've seen in a long, long time. I couldn't watch it alone. My boyfriend who was quietly studying in the room next door was summoned to the living room to calm my nerves. I'm still having horrific flashbacks of the old man emerging from his cellar, in what appears to be thin air from screen left as Jake Gyllenhaal runs out his front door. (shivers)
Being There - (1979) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, July 13, 2008
Peter Sellers in Hal Ashby's Being There is the most tender, sweet, and hilarious character to emerge from the drug-addled fiasco of 70s auteur cinema. While most of the cinema I know from this era of transition for Hollywood studios is generally disillusioned in tone, anxious and angry in its narrative direction, Being There feels like a curious shrug of the shoulders to those conventions. That's not the same to be said about other Ashby films, like The Last Detail (1973), but even then there's a bit of melancholia that's present in it and other Ashby movies--Harold and Maude (1971) and Coming Home (1978) in particular. Chance's (Sellers) love scene with Mrs. Rand, played by the adorable Shirley MacLaine, mimicking the the make-out session he sees on TV--in a call-back to Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. (1924)--is meta-cinematic tops. The Hoax - (2006) - DVD
Seen: Saturday, July 19, 2008
Here's one I missed upon its release that I had high expectations for, but by the second half of the film as our main man, Clifford Irving (Richard Gere) descends into a weird psychological blackout, The Hoax lost me. Most of the reviews of the movie mention the shocking level of ambition and lack of inhibition in Irving's character, and surely it is the most compelling aspect of the story. But somehow it fell flat. Maybe it was the emphasis on his love affairs? His personal friendships and marriage? The puzzle pieces never fit together for me, and I was irritated with its glossiness and formulaic structure, if you'll indulge such disdainful generalities...
The Dark Knight - (2008) - Film
Seen: Monday, July 21, 2008
Here's one portion of this post I've got to apologize for, because the enthusiasm I initially felt for The Dark Knight I am afraid has waned in time. I left the theater elated, thinking it was smart commentary on our current wartime and domestic spying crisis. After all, when the final fight scenes end, Bruce Wayne had the cell phone surveillance program shut down. But as my movie mates adamantly pointed out, the program's destruction didn't ensue until after he chose to use it, in his rather god-like and unquestioned manner. So suffice it to say, at least in terms of The Dark Knight's politics, I remain ambivalent. As for the rest of the film--it's characters and performances, the scenery and location, and its overall suspense, it would be putting it lightly to say I adored it. It is a cliche by now to mention the stellar and utterly spooky performance from Heath Leger, but sometimes cliches work. For me, he made the movie. The Chicago scenery was great--and great for a Chicagoan to see her town on the big screen too. The film's shooting was the most talked-about event here on the streets. In New York and L.A. a movie shoot is commonplace, but is a rarity in the Midwest.Citizen Kane - (1941) - Film
Seen: Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Can't see Orson Welles' Citizen Kane too many times! I saw it on my 29th...
Transformers - (2007) - DVD
Seen: Sunday, July 27, 2008
Listen, I didn't see Transformers in the summer of 2007 when it was released, so finally, perhaps in the spirit and momentum of the summer blockbusters that preceded it in this queue, perhaps that explains why I suddenly found myself tamped down with boredom from this lifeless monstrosity. I mean, what the fuck? The Autobots' comedy yuk-it-up outside Shia LaBeouf's house? I'm just getting mad now...
Coming Home - (1978) - DVD
Seen: Monday, July 28, 2008
There, there, all better. Ah--thank you, Hal Ashby, for making such a great movie. I mean, really, thank you. Coming Home is another perfect example of the sort of sensitivity Ashby's films can portray. When you watch Hal Ashby you have a feeling that on the most basic level he simply cares for humanity. Coming Home shook me with real, raw emotion. And what a performance from Jon Voight! His speech to the young military recruits at the end, simply sublime.
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